Are you quenching the Holy Spirit?
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| Holy Spirit dove window (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble) |
Are we, then, aware of the power of the Spirit within us? If not we are quenching the Spirit. An extraordinary paradox is involved in this matter. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, and is allpowerful; and yet it is possible for us to ‘quench’ the Spirit, to ‘resist’ the Spirit, to ‘grieve’ the Spirit. It is a great mystery, but it is true. You cannot reconcile these things ultimately, but the teaching is quite plain. In spite of His almighty power He comes also as a d dove—the gentle dove who can be offended.
How do we know whether the Spirit is working in us powerfully? One test is found in the Epistle to the Philippians, ‘Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:12–13). God works in every Christian by and through the Holy Spirit—the fire, the power.
He prompts us, He urges us, He leads us. As Paul expresses it in Romans 8:14: ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’. The Spirit produces a kind of disturbance within us, ‘moving’, ‘urging’, ‘prompting’; we are aware of a power dealing with us, a power other than ourselves.
Another test is that the Spirit always leads to life and vigour and liveliness. The truly spiritual man, the Christian filled with the Spirit, is never a person who has to drag himself and force himself to do things. There is a power in him, a vigour and a liveliness, because the Spirit is a life-giving Spirit.
Another test is that the Spirit always leads to life and vigour and liveliness. The truly spiritual man, the Christian filled with the Spirit, is never a person who has to drag himself and force himself to do things. There is a power in him, a vigour and a liveliness, because the Spirit is a life-giving Spirit.
The contrast drawn in the Scripture between the non-Christ
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| The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Photo credit: Lawrence OP) |
ian and the Christian is that between someone who is ‘dead in trepasses and sins’, and someone who is ‘alive from the dead’, who has been ‘born again’. The non-Christian is dead, is lifeless, he knows nothing about God, nothing about the life of the soul, nothing about a spiritual energy. He does not live, he only exists. That is the tragedy of the world today. Worldly people talk about life, about ‘seeing life’. But it is not life, it is mere existence. There is no life apart from God the Spirit.
Everyone who is a Christian, filled with the Spirit, knows about this vigour, this liveliness; so he does not have to drive himself, or urge himself, or drag himself to God’s house, or to anything that he does as a Christian. The energy of the Spirit is moving in him. The Apostle Paul constantly makes this clear. At the end of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, he says, ‘Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily’. Similarly he says, ‘the love of Christ constraineth me’.
Everyone who is a Christian, filled with the Spirit, knows about this vigour, this liveliness; so he does not have to drive himself, or urge himself, or drag himself to God’s house, or to anything that he does as a Christian. The energy of the Spirit is moving in him. The Apostle Paul constantly makes this clear. At the end of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, he says, ‘Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily’. Similarly he says, ‘the love of Christ constraineth me’.
There was an energy moving him, carrying him along, and this is always characteristic of the Spirit. The Scriptures came into being in this way. Peter, in his Second Epistle, tells us that ‘No scripture is of any private interpretation’. In other words it does not present a man’s view of things. It is not a case of a man who has been studying, meditating, ruminating, and cogitating, who at last says, ‘Now I have worked it out’. That is not how the Scriptures have come; but ‘holy men of God spake as they were moved’, ‘carried along’, ‘borne along’, ‘energized by the Holy Ghost’ (2 Peter 1:20–21). Our Christian life is to be lively; so if you are dragging yourself about and are lethargic you are probably quenching the Spirit.
Moreover, the Spirit, through His power, gives us ability to live and to witness. The apostles, after our Lord’s death, were disconsolate, unhappy, miserable, feeling utterly helpless, so much so that Peter, as we are told at the beginning of John 21, turned to the others and said, ‘I go a-fishing’. Listen to the conversation of the two men on the road to Emmaus: ‘We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel’—and so on (Luke 24:21). That is the picture; and the Christian Church, had she continued in that condition, would not have held together for even a few we
Moreover, the Spirit, through His power, gives us ability to live and to witness. The apostles, after our Lord’s death, were disconsolate, unhappy, miserable, feeling utterly helpless, so much so that Peter, as we are told at the beginning of John 21, turned to the others and said, ‘I go a-fishing’. Listen to the conversation of the two men on the road to Emmaus: ‘We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel’—and so on (Luke 24:21). That is the picture; and the Christian Church, had she continued in that condition, would not have held together for even a few we
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| Holy Spirit painting (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble) |
eks.
But look at what happened later. Peter, the one who denied his Lord but a few weeks previously, is now standing up in Jerusalem and charging the very rulers of the people, saying, ‘You have put to death the Prince of life!’ He condemns them and calls them to repentance. He preaches ‘Jesus and the resurrection’. The difference is entirely due to the Spirit, the power of the Spirit. The Spirit enables us to witness. He teaches us how to witness, and gives us the ability to witness. He also tells us what to say.
The Spirit leads to prayer always; and He gives ability in prayer. Do you find it difficult to pray in private, and in public? It should not be so, for the Spirit energizes in this matter of prayer. ‘We know not what we should pray for as we ought’, but the Spirit helps our infirmities. He teaches us how to pray and leads us out in prayer; He enlarges us in prayer. What do we know of this in experience?
Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1976). The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–13 (pp. 276–288). Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust.
But look at what happened later. Peter, the one who denied his Lord but a few weeks previously, is now standing up in Jerusalem and charging the very rulers of the people, saying, ‘You have put to death the Prince of life!’ He condemns them and calls them to repentance. He preaches ‘Jesus and the resurrection’. The difference is entirely due to the Spirit, the power of the Spirit. The Spirit enables us to witness. He teaches us how to witness, and gives us the ability to witness. He also tells us what to say.
The Spirit leads to prayer always; and He gives ability in prayer. Do you find it difficult to pray in private, and in public? It should not be so, for the Spirit energizes in this matter of prayer. ‘We know not what we should pray for as we ought’, but the Spirit helps our infirmities. He teaches us how to pray and leads us out in prayer; He enlarges us in prayer. What do we know of this in experience?
Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1976). The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–13 (pp. 276–288). Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust.
